


Lamp Light Saviour

by Demonlucy



Series: My Guardian Angel [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Adoption, Dave is a good guy, Dirk is tired and seduces drunken men for money, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Runaway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:54:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24498271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demonlucy/pseuds/Demonlucy
Summary: Dirk has been homeless for about a month now after running away from his last foster home, one night while he's trying to make some money he meets a handsome stranger who offers him what he has always wanted, a home.
Relationships: Dirk's Bro | Alpha Dave Strider/Dirk Strider
Series: My Guardian Angel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769935
Comments: 14
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dirk is 14 and Dave is around 23  
> Its ambiguous as to whether they are related or not as they have both been in foster care from pretty much birth so its up to you :3
> 
> I feel like some of the sexual encounters that Dirk describes could be seen as dubcon considering his partners drunken states so please be aware!

Dirk knew that his current foster family wouldn’t care about him disappearing, they made it very clear what they thought of him after the first night, he doubted that they would even tell anyone that he ran away in the first place. Not that he had anyone that would come looking for him if they had told anyone. The system had given up on him a long time ago and he could hardly blame it, he knew he was an asshole. The longest any family had managed to put up with him since his birth was a week and at 14, he just couldn’t do it anymore. He didn’t want to see adults tell him how this was going to be his new forever home only to throw him out a few days later telling his social worker that they couldn’t handle him. His social worker was the same, they couldn’t deal with him either, although they stuck around longer they seemed to tire of him quicker. The foster family would be relived, and the social works would all probably celebrate his absence.

So he packed up what little he had in an orange duffle bag and left. It had been roughly a month since he first ran away from the foster home, no one came looking for him like he expected and he was grateful, at the very least he could escape the endless cycle of rejection. The money he left with wasn’t much meaning the nights spent inside at hotels or hostels where few and far between, leaving him with the choice between a 24-hour coffee shop if he had enough for a cup and the street if not. It was fine, he was doing fine. He would take his old laptop to a café or a library and he was managing to keep up with online classes and reading despite his situation. One of the old librarian ladies was nice enough to give him a free coffee and cookie, as well as letting him stay until she was locking up.

It was Friday night or early Saturday morning, Dirks phone and old laptop ran out of power hours ago but whatever time it was, it was late. The time were the last few partiers and drunks where leaving and heading home and it was those very drunken people that he was waiting for. The blonde was currently leaning against the entry to an alleyway on a street with several pubs and clubs, he had been seducing the few extremely drunk men he could find for the last few hours. Once he found someone who was significantly drunk, drunk enough that they wouldn’t really pay attention to his age, he would lead them into the alley with sweet words and soft touches, getting them off for any cash they had left over from a heavy night. Even though he mainly used his hand to get the men off, if they were especially good looking he might be tempted enough to use his mouth, though it was about as likely that he’d just make them cum in their pants they were always too drunk to tell anyway. He was trying to make enough money for a hotel for the night or at the very least a nice hot meal, he couldn’t really remember the last time he had a full meal. Dirk put his head in his hands and rubbed at his tired amber eyes, “I’d die for a shower and hot meal right now.” He sighed softly to himself, he was so tired. 

“Hey, you feelin’ alright bro?” Dirk jumped and turned to face the slurred voice, a few feet away from him lit by the streetlight was the most beautiful man he had ever seen in his entire life. Ruffled white blonde hair glowed in the lamplight, the pale freckled skin flushed from whatever he had been drinking, his wine red button up with sleeves rolled up to his elbows was open enough to see collar bones and his black slacks hugged his model like legs, slightly glassy red eyes continued to stare at him with concern as Dirk tried to remember how to breath.

The guy in front of him was gorgeous, he had legs straight out of a shoujo manga for gods sake and if Dirk didn’t know his own mind well enough, he might have thought he was hallucinating. The guy was so hot Dirk wouldn’t even charge him, hell he might even pay him to fool around. Gods he hopes he wasn’t blushing as hard as he thought he was, he’d already been quite for too long just drinking the guy in.

“I’m good Bro but I’m pretty sure I’d be much better if you’d play with me.” He smirked and walked over to the man, he put an hand on the older man’s arm and started guiding him over to the alleyway. The drunk man went willingly as he was guided, he stumbled slightly and Dirk steadied him with a hand on his hip, he slowly started to back the man up until Dirk had pressed him against the alley wall. One hand stayed on the older man’s hip while the other on his arm moved up to grip the back of his neck, Dirk smiled up at him as those beautiful red eyes blinked in drunken confusion. With the man pinned between his body and the wall Dirk lifted himself onto his tiptoes to kiss him, moving slow to give the guy some time to back out if he wanted. 

The man made a small noise at the soft kiss but didn’t pull away, his hands flailed at his sides for a moment before moving them to rest on Dirks shoulders and Dirk happily kissed him deeper. His lips are soft, and Dirk is thankful that the man seemed to have been drinking fruity alcoholic drinks most of the night as it let the kiss taste a whole lot sweeter than just plain beer would have. He would have dealt with the bitter taste of beer, but it was nice to have the fruity taste instead. Dirk sighs softly into the kiss, pushing his body closer grinding their hips together ever so slightly. He let out a small noise of surprise as the hands on his shoulders gripped him tighter and push him back to arm’s length, still holding onto him.

“What is going on dude, how old are you?” The man slurs, squinting down at Dirks face like he could read the number in his eyes. Dirk is confused for a moment before the question catches up to him, he stiffens and rips himself out of the man’s grip, he has dealt with guys that were far more sober than this beautiful man and they never asked questions regarding his age. He guessed it was just his luck that the first guy he was actually excited to do this with noticed.  
Dirk had to go, he had to leave before things got worse. He rushed further into the alleyway and pulled his duffle bag out from behind the bunch of boxes he hid it behind earlier that night, ready to just hightail it out of there. Throwing it over his shoulder quickly walked past the man and was close to the mouth of the alleyway when a surprisingly steady hand landed on his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“Wait! Hold on, wait a sec. Just hold your horses kid.” The man says quickly, still slurring his words he pinches the bridge of his nose as if trying to organise his drunken thoughts. Dirk waited with the hand still on one arm and his other gripping the strap of his bag, it wouldn’t be to hard to pull himself from the mans grip and run. He was still incredibly drunk so Dirk could free himself and lose him easily if he tried to call the cops or something, he definitely would take flight the second the man mentioned the police but right now he was just so tired. He wasn’t going to run from this guy if he didn’t need too, so he waited.

“It’s like 3am right now, why are you out here kissing randos in a back alley?” He questions, still holding Dirks arm, he jesters with the other hand and loosened the grip he had on Dirks arm, whether that was because of inebriation or to let him know that he could leave the situation if he wanted, Dirk didn’t know. “That’s none of your business.” Dirk snapped back a little too fast, he could see the moment his situation clicked in those lovely red eyes. The man sighed and rubbed a hand down his face while Dirk glared down at his own dirty shoes.  
“Okay, alright.” The man mumbled almost too quiet for Dirk to hear, he lets go of his arm and straightens as best his drunken body can before speaking again. “Okay, if you don’t have anywhere to go right now you can always spend the night at my place.” Dirks orange eyes widened in surprise; of all the things he thought the man would say that wasn’t one of them. “What? Yeah right like I’m just going to follow some stranger home to potentially get murdered, I’m not a horror movie idiot.” He huffed, taking a step back towards the street.

“Fair point, generally not a good idea to follow in the footsteps of a character in the first scene of every horror movie ever. Counter point, I’m extremely drunk and couldn’t even let you lead me down a dark alley without tripping over my own feet, so if you think I can somehow trap and murder you right now then maybe you are an idiot. In all honesty you’re more likely to be the serial killer in this horror movie scenario.” He jesters to you and stumbles slightly at the movement, proving his point pretty well. “What’s the catch, stranger?” “Dave.” “What’s the catch, Dave?” Dirk questioned, glaring over at Dave, not really trusting the offer. He hadn’t yet made any move towards him which Dirk was grateful for; it kept his fight or flight instincts at bay for the moment.

Dave shook his head “No catch. You come back with me and I can scratch the painful guilt of leaving some defenceless kid alone at night from the killer hangover I’m gonna have tomorrow.” Dirk furrowed his brows and gave a small frown at the others words before snapping out a childish “I’m not defenceless.” Dave gave a shrug “Try telling that to dramatic hungover future me, you won’t be able to. Like I love the guy for dealing with past me’s shit, but the guy deserves to be in a soap opera and win a trophy for most dramatic and heartfelt bullshit monologue.” Dirks lips twitched up slightly in a smile at Dave’s rant, he clutched the strap of his duffle bag tighter as he thought the options over, chewing on his bottom lip ever so slightly.

He could definitely take this man in a fight right now if he had to, Dave was offering a safe place to rest where he didn’t have to spend the nights hard earned money he had and if he was telling the truth there was no strings attached. Honestly there was so much that could go wrong if he let Dave take him home, he could hurt him in his sleep, call the police when he wasn’t looking or just straight up murder him when he was sober a few hours from now. 

But Dirk was tired.

He was so tired.

Dirk agreed to go with him, Dave led the way back to his apartment which was a few blocks away while Dirk followed a few feet behind, ready to run at the first sign of trouble. They made it to some average looking apartment building, once inside the building Dave had the decency to apologies about the stairs and out of order elevator, Dirk shrugged it off but when they finally reached the top floor understood. “Jesus fucking Christ, how do you live here.” Dirk gasped as he lent against wall, legs trembling from the effort of the climb while Dave fished his keys out. “You get use to it.” He smiled, not even slightly out of breath, what a monster. “I could never get use to that; you’d have to be insane or a masochist to buy this place.” Dirk insisted as Dave led him into the apartment. “I bought it cause it was extremely cheap.” Dirk snorted and mumbled a sarcastic “I wonder why.” Under his breath as he closed the door. Dave headed over to the small kitchen area of the joint Livingroom kitchenette, Dirk had a quick glance around the joint room was cluttered but reasonably sized. The one bed apartment looked lived in, not overly messy but not really neat and tidy either, it had an organised chaos vibe to it.

Dirk walked over and set his bag down next to the futon, he took notice of the Xbox and collection of games and movies scattered by the TV, glancing over at a work desk that held a number of screens, a laptop and a drawing tablet while the desk was just littered with paper and empty coffee cups. He was about to pick up and read what appeared to be a script when Dave called him over to sit at the breakfast bar, an open box of what was most likely leftover pizza in front of him. When he finally sits down Dave pushed some leftover pizza and a glass of water in his direction, already halfway through his own slice. Dirks breath caught in his throat, how long had it been since he had pizza? It had been far too long, and he wasn’t going to waste another second. He grabbed a slice like it was about to vanish and bit into the piece with an indecent moan that had the older man laughing softly over a mouthful of pizza. Dirk would have flipped him the bird but his hands hand more important things to do, like shoveling as much pizza and water into his mouth as physically possible.

Dave, the absolute god of a man, let him eat the rest of the leftover pizza and Dirk could feel his emotions swell and eyes sting with soon to be tears, he was feeling full for the first time in a long time. Dave had got up and left the room before Dirk had finished the rest of the pizza, he came back and handed the teen a change of clothes for him to sleep in, “You can take a shower if you want, it’s the first door down the hall.” He motions towards it and Dirk heads over, the temptation of hot water too much to refuse.

Only once he was finally under the relaxing spray of the hot water Dirk let himself cry, painful but silent sobs wrecked his body as sat on the floor of the shower, letting the water run over him and wash away his tears. He was so tired; he didn’t care anymore if Dave was going to kill him in the morning, he was full and warm and least he could die happy.  
Twenty minutes later he had recovered from his emotional breakdown and scrubbed himself clean with every shower product he could find and get his hands on, the vast number of apple scented products he found was rather amusing. He also found an unopened toothbrush in the medicine cabinet as well as some mouthwash and floss. The clothes Dave had lent him were soft with age, a pair of red tartan PJ pants, that he had to roll the legs up to stop tripping over them, and a faded red baseball T with a cracked record on it. Dirk was feeling cleaner, calmer and sleeper than he ever remembered feeling before. 

He shuffled back into the other room and found Dave writing a note on the breakfast bar next to a full glass of water and some painkillers. “Who are you writing that for?” Dirk asked curiously in the doorway of the hall, he didn’t think that Dave lived with anyone but the thought that he might had anxiety clawing its way back into his mind, he was too emotionally exhausted to fight off the shiver it shot through him. “It’s a note for future me tomorrow.” He replies, still writing, Dirk raises an eyebrow at the answer “You leave notes for your future self, is the other you that stupid?” he asked with a small smile and Dave pointed the pen at him, setting the finished note next to the water and painkillers “Hey don’t diss future me, he has to put up with all the bullshit I’ve put us through, hangovers are a bitch and he deals with the damage.”

Dave gets up and heads over to the futon “I’ll crash here tonight, and you can take the bed in my room, you can’t miss it, its literally the only other room beside the bathroom. Oh, and before you say anything I always faceplant coma on the futon after drinking so that beds gonna be free anyway. You can sleep on the floor or like in the bathroom if you really want but take it from me 10/10 great bed in my room, best z’s of your life or your money back guarantee.” He mumbles and waves Dirk over in the direction of the hallway once more before actually faceplanting like he said on the futon and falling asleep. Dirk smiled softly at that and made his way over to the bedroom, he was too tired to really look around at all the things on shelves and photos so he just crawled into the soft bed, wrapped himself up in the sheets and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave wakes up and thinks the worst when he finds a young teen in his bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dave panics, Past Dave has got his back, multiple characters are mentioned but only Rose and Karkat have brief speaking roles and a quick painless adoption process for fic convinces XD

Dave was pulled back into consciousness around midmorning by pain that seemed to be having a rave in his head. He groaned and rubbed a hand down his face “I’m never drinking again.” He complained quietly, every noise was like an ice-pick to the brain. He said the same thing every time he drank heavily and he never sticks to it, normally he could just blame Rose or one of his other friends for the hangover but it was his fault they all partied like it was the end of the fucking world so there was no one to blame but himself for this painful hangover.

He felt awful and the lingering taste of fruity cocktails and pizza weren’t helping, unless unsettling his stomach was helping in which case, they were the best in the business. He opened his eyes briefly before cursing and closing them again to keep the light at bay, he patted himself down once, twice and nope his shades where not on his person. He hoped he hadn’t left them at a bar, his best bro gave those shades to him. With a huff he squinted and got up and nearly went flying after tripping over something near the futon, an orange bag? “What the fuck?” he mumbled, steadying himself and running his fingers through his hair. Did he steal one of his friends bags in revenge for them taking his shades? It wouldn’t be the first time he ended up at home with something that belonged to his friends. After a wild night a year or two ago he had woken up on the futon in Jades dress, Roses shoes and Johns glasses, after a quick call to the others it seemed that they were all in the same position as him; Rose having his suit, John having his shades and Jade having his shoes. 

He couldn’t remember any of them owning or bringing an orange duffle bag but he couldn’t really remember much after Rose dared John and him to down a full whisky glass of straight vodka. A full body shiver of disgust ran though him at the memory. They had completed the dare with flying colours and eventually got revenge by daring both Rose and Jade to whisky shots, he should his head as he walked into his bedroom. He needed a shower, comfier clothes and then he could drown some painkillers with as much water and snack food as he could fit in his stomach, going on past experience it was a lot.

He found some sweatpants, underwear and socks but he couldn’t seem to find his favourite record tee, he was sure it was still in here but maybe he wore it recently and forgot, with a sigh he grabbed one of the random movie tees that John had left behind from his many visits. Dave just closed the closet door when he saw his record tee out of the corner of his eye. 

There it was! On the bed… on someone’s body.

Red eyes widened in fear, body frozen like a deer in headlights as he looked over at the still sleeping form on his bed, in his shirt. Slightly spiky golden blonde hair fanned out on the pillow the boy was pressing his face into, dreaming deeply. The only thing running through his mind at this moment was ‘Young, this boy looked very, very young’.  
Dave slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes growing impossibly wider as a vague memory reared its head from the depts of the blackout drunk waters. Seeing this boy on the street as he made his way home, being led into an alley and kissing up against the wall. Dave was going to throw up. He absconded out of the room and managed to make it to the toilet in time for all the alcohol to make a second trip through his throat. 

He needed to wake up properly before he thought about this. 

Having first brushed his teeth, then quickly showered and changed in the clothes he brought with him; Dave waited on the outside of his bedroom door. “Okay Dave, this is fine. You’re fine, you’re just having hangover hallucinations, it’s happened before… I think. You weren’t awake yet so when you open this door there’s gonna be no underage boy in your bed, zero children in your room, the lack of underage bodies behind this door is gonna be so apparent you’re gonna laugh.” He mumbled to work himself up before taking a breath and opening the door just enough to peak through it. “Son of a bitch.” He cursed quietly at himself when he saw that there was in fact an underage boy asleep in his bed. He closed the door again and walked into the kitchenette pulling at his hair.

He was going to jail; it would be just his luck to do something horrible like fuck a minor the day after he’d finally been given the green light to direct his first ever Hollywood movie. Cursing his past self with every vile word he knew he reached the breakfast bar, he looked down at the tablets and water he had put there last night but now Dave was starting to think he deserved the throbbing pain in his skull after what he probably did to that kid in his bed. His eyes catch sight of a note, his own drunken handwriting glaring up at him from the paper.

‘Dear Future Dave,  
Sup.  
Hopefully you haven’t been murdered by the guest I brought back but if you have, my bad dude. I found the kid by an alleyway, he has nowhere to go right now so I let him stay over to keep him off the street for the night.  
Nothing happened… well unless he was a killer in which case murder happened but if you’re reading this and not bleeding to death then nothing happened, no need to panic. Put down the phone, don’t hand yourself over to the police or schedule a counselling session with Rose, you’re fine.  
Left water and painkillers on the counter  
Thanks for putting up with this bullshit  
Lots of love  
Past Dave’

Dave almost cries in relief, “Past Dave I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about you.” No longer feeling the need to punish himself Dave takes the painkillers and swallows them down with the glass of water. He checked in on the boy one more time, the young teen was wrapped up snugly in the quilt and still dead to the world, considering the dark circles under his eyes the guy needs all the sleep he could get.

“Might as well make something for us to eat while I wait.” Dave mumbles, closing the door to his room softly. Heading back into the kitchenette he debated on what to cook, should he make something specific or just make a little bit of everything? He decided to cook a full breakfast as he wasn’t sure what the kid would like to eat. Eggs, sausage, a shit load of bacon and some pancakes. While he was getting the ingredients out his phone buzzed, a quick glance showed it was a message from Rose.

> tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]
> 
> TT: Good morning Dave. I assume that the day has gifted you with the same excruciating pain as the rest of us as punishment for overindulging in the Devils drink.  
> 
> 
> TG: morning rose  
> 
> 
> TG: yeah it fucking sucks my head is screaming louder than a group of foxes remind me to never go out drinking with you guys again  
> 
> 
> TT: Noted. A group of foxes would be called a leash or a skulk by the way.  
> 
> 
> TG: noted also dont care did you really just message me and interrupt breakfast making the most important meal of the day btw to make sure i was still alive and kickin or did you want something  
> 
> 
> TT: While it is a relief to see you awake and coherent unlike some of our other friends, I’m actually messaging you because I seem to have woken up in possession of your beloved shades and I was wondering when to expect you to retrieve them or if you would prefer I drop them off.  
> 
> 
> TG: oh thank fuck i was starting to think i might have left them at a bar or something ill come and get them at some point after the painkillers start kicking in  
> 
> 
> TT: Just let me know in advance so I can look charmingly dishevelled instead of wretchedly hungover. I’ll let you get back to your breakfast, speak to you soon Dave.  
> 
> 
> TG: see you later rose
> 
> tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]  
> 

Dave continues with the breakfast preparations and makes some coffee to wake him up while he starts cooking. He’s sipping coffee out of a ‘Pizza Slut’ mug Rose got him one Christmas, when he nearly drops it as he hears someone trying to open his bedroom door quietly. He doesn’t glance over at the hallway and instead focuses on the frying bacon, pretending not to hear the quite footsteps or the opening and closing of the bathroom door. ‘The poor kid probably thinks you’re gonna throw him out the second you catch him’ Dave frowns to himself and sets the two plates up with food, filling up his coffee mug again when the bathroom door opens and the soft pad of feet come slowly towards you, stopping just a few feet away from the breakfast bar. 

Dave glances over at him, taking a sip of his fresh coffee to calm his nerves, gods he wished he had his shades right now. “Sup, I made breakfast.” The kid look like he was trying to play it cool too, now Dave wasn’t one to throw stones, glasses houses and all that but he could safely say that he was currently pulling off his cool facade better than the kid who was just about as tense as a bowstring.

“I didn’t know what you liked so I just did us both a bit of everything, you can just leave whatever you don’t like. You want a drink?” Dave spoke as the kid slowly took a seat at the breakfast bar, he could see the boy looking longingly down at the full plate and it made Daves heart hurt, he wasn’t that good of a cook but the kid looked like he might start crying in joy over it for a second there before he got control of himself.

“Thanks, a coffee would be nice.” Dave nodded and made him a cup, “You take milk and sugar, kid? I don’t think I ever got your name, that’s hella rude of me. Mine’s Dave, I’m pretty sure I already told you that but I was very drunk and the whole night is kind of a fuzzy mess so there’s like a 50/50 chance that I didn’t tell you so shame on you for following a stranger if I didn’t.” He glanced over to see the boys lips twitch up in a small smile “It’s Dirk and just milk please.” Dave nodded and added the milk, he sat the mug down in front of Dirk before sitting next to him and waited for the reaction. He smiled wide when Dirk snorted softly having finally read what was on the mug he had been passed, it was a Christmas gift that Jade had gotten him a few years ago it read ‘kawaii in the streets senpai in the sheets’.

“This is so lame, I love it.” Dirk chuckled quietly and took a deep gulp before digging in, looking much more relaxed than he had been moments before. “Yeah, my friends and I like to try and outdo each other at Christmas with shitty mugs. I gave a great one last year to my best bro John that had a dick inside.” Dave smiled, remembering everyone’s laughter, he had won that year. “You’re joking, I didn’t know they made mugs like that.” Dirk questions with a small smile of his own, “No joke, they have some crazy shit once you go down the comedic mug rabbit hole, don’t go Alice its dongs all the way down, all the way down.” Dave repeats the last part like an echo and Dirk chuckles again with a shake of his head mumbling a quiet “You’re so weird.”

A few minutes in comfortable silence pass and Dave had finished his breakfast and coffee. He stood, putting the dishes in the sink for later and started pouring himself another cup of ‘wake the fuck up’ juice. With a quick glance back at Dirk, Dave could see that the kids plate was still mostly food, food that the boy was slowly attempting to eat and push round the plate. Dave frowned and wondered just how long it had been since Dirk had eaten this much, could his body even handle this much without him getting sick? “So… how old are you?” he asked trying to approach the subject like a calm reasonable adult, even though the way Dirk immediately tensed up made it seem like he had run into the conversation screaming.

“Seventeen, nearly eighteen.”

Dave snorted and took a sip of his freshly made coffee “You wanna try again?”  
Dirk shifted uncomfortably, fork gripped tightly like he was going to use it to fight “Would you believe I was sixteen, nearly seventeen?” he asked glaring holes into his plate no longer attempting to eat and already knowing Dave wouldn’t believe him. Dave waited as Dirk thought and after what seemed to be a small battle in the kids head, he spoke quietly “I’m fourteen.”

Daves grip on his mug tightened and he fought back a curse by drowning it in another sip of coffee, continuing to play the part of casual cool adult while his mind was screaming. ‘Four-fucking-teen!?’ he was thinking the kid was late fifteen to very early sixteen not babies first real year as a teen. ‘He’s fourteen and he was on the streets! He took you into an alleyway for a good time! How many people didn’t notice how young he was!? How many people didn’t care!?’ Dave shook his head; he wouldn’t think about it.

“Dirk, I know this is probably the last question you want to hear or answer but I gotta ask… is there a reason you’re not at home, aren’t people looking for you?” Dave frowned when the question caused the kid gave a short hollow laugh, the orange eyed boy still wouldn’t look over at him, choosing instead to glare at his food and give the occasional glance over at his bag by the futon. “If you could call that system a home,” he shook his head “No ones looking for me anyway. Oh, I’m sure they’ll play the parts of worried and concerned adults if the police ever took me back but they’re just glad the stain on their record is finally gone.” Dave put his mug down and took a step towards him, wanting to comfort him stopping when Dirk flinched back slightly and glared at him. 

“System? Dirk are you-” 

“YOU’RE SO HYPNOTIZING! COULD YOU BE THE DEVIL! COULD YOU BE AN ANGEL!” 

Dave’s phone started ringing suddenly, the volume set way past uncomfortably loud, making them both jump backwards hard enough for Dave’s hip to hit the counter painfully and enough for Dirk to fall backwords to the floor with a crash, taking the chair with him. Dave put a hand to his chest and wheezed out a quite “Jesus Christ.” As E.T continued to play, he glanced over the breakfast bar to see Dirk and the chair on the floor. “You good? I’m sorry but I’m gonna have to take this.” Dirk gave him a shaky thumbs up in response, his heart not settled enough to sit up just yet.

Dave smiled softly and gave a thumbs up back, he grabbed the still screaming phone, heading to his bedroom for privacy as he answered and was greeted to screaming only slightly lower in volume.

“DAVE YOU FUCKING IDIOT! Would it really kill you to answer your phone, and before you spout some bullshit excuse about it being in the other room or in the shower just stop, I know you never part from your stupid phone. Do you like making me wait asshole? Is it amusing to you? Do you want your voicemail to be filled with me screaming at you so you can get off to it later!?” Rolling his eyes, he closed the door to his bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Chill Karkat, as much as I need your screeching voice to successfully get my dick going I’ve got a hangover so please take it down a notch or several until you reach normal human volume please and thanks.” 

“I know dipshit, so has everyone else that was at the party including myself so let’s make this quick so I can stop assaulting both of our tender brains with my voice.” Dave chuckled softly as Karkat continued “I just wanted to let you know that the meeting with the producers has been moved from tomorrow to today, early this afternoon to be exact. I wanted to tell you as soon as possible so you can get your shit together and we can both not look as hung over as we feel.”

“Karkat, today really isn’t a good day for this. Can’t you-” Dave sighed frustrated, glancing at the direction of the kitchen, as Karkat cut in. “I tried Dave, believe me I fucking tried. Look as shitty as it is for those fuckers to change the dates last minute on us, we really don’t have the power to throw our weight around just yet. A relatively new Agent and a nobody Director with his first script in the making isn’t going to get anybody to give us some slack. We’re lucky they agreed to the movie Dave, but once it’s out we’ll be fighting them off us with sticks... So, for now we’ll just jump when they say and smite them like the gods we’ll be later.” Dave smiled, it was reliving to hear that Karkat had his back all the way and was confident in his script. He confirmed that he’ll be presentable when Karkat picks him up in a few hours.

After saying a quick goodbye, he re-entered the kitchenette “Sorry about that, my Agent has the worst timing.” Dave looked up from his phone and noticed the empty room, the chair was picked up and put back in position, dishes had been washed and left to dry, there was no sign of the orange bag near the futon and his tartan pants where folded on the counter with a note on top.

‘Thanks for the food and the place to sleep, it was very much appreciated. You were right 10/10 great bed, I’ll leave this as my five-star review, complements to the chef too.  
I’ll get out of your hair before you come back out, no point overstaying a welcome.  
Thanks again, Dirk.

PS: I’ve taken the shirt and an old takeout container for the leftover breakfast, sorry about that’

Dave sighs and runs his hand through his hair, he couldn’t just let Dirk continue roaming the streets doing who knows what with who knows whom for money to eat and sleep peacefully. He speed-dialled 1 and started talking the second he was answered “Rose I’m coming over now. Before you ask yes for my glasses but also I really need help on how to go about adopting a child, I’ll explain everything when I get there and just because I was in the system doesn’t mean I know or even care to remember how it works.” Before she had even agreed to help, which she would, Dave already had his shoes and jacket on and was out the door, heading down the never-ending stairs.

After a long conversation with Rose and a concerningly quick trip to the foster home, Dave now had all the paperwork concerning Dirk, whose last name was now legally Strider. The two didn’t voice out loud in front of the foster home and social workers how strange and frankly horrifying it was that Dave had become the legal guardian of the fourteen year old in just over an hour with zero background checks or any type of check at all. The system clearly wanted to get rid of Dirk and Dave was willing to take him, so they happily signed all the papers and gave them to Dave without so much as a second glance. 

After saying goodbye to Rose and her promising to help in the coming week with childcare, Dave went on his way to meet Karkat and the producers in what he knew was going to be a stressful meeting with hopefully a positive outcome.

\--

Dirk was huddled into a corner booth of a small 24-hour dinner, the clock on his freshly charged laptop told him it was 03:14AM. He was fighting off the night time chill with a cheap cup of coffee and his orange hoodie, his chin rested on his knees as his hands gripped the cooling mug. He had on a crappy pair of headphones on that he had borrowed from the library and was currently listening to one of the class lectures he had to catch up on. Dirk hadn’t felt more awake or well fed in a long time and yet he couldn’t really concentrate on the video, was it maths? English? Dirk didn’t know. 

His mind kept going back to Dave. Sweet handsome Dave, whose bed was so warm, whose food delightful, whose shower heavenly and whose smile should be downright illegal. Dirk sighed and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, he really needed to stop thinking out Dave, he was a really nice guy, he took care of him when he needed it annnnnnd he was currently sat across from him.

Dirk blinked, once again wondering if he was imagining the man before him, Dave had a pair of aviators on his head this time as well as a different suit and was smiling calmly at him. “Sup, lil’ Man.” Dirk closed his laptop and removed the headphones, “Sup. Should I be concerned that you managed to find me?” he asked not too bothered, he was just thinking about him after all ‘Think of the Devil’. Dave rubbed the back of his neck “Would it sound less creepy or creepier if I told you I’ve been looking for you all night?” 

Dirk thought on it for a moment “Less creepy because you didn’t know my immediate location, creepier cause you have been trying to hunt me down and have been doing it for presumably hours, did you want your shirt back that bad?” half teasing, half hoping he wouldn’t actually demand the shirt back, one of his hands fisting the fabric of the sleeve unconsciously.

“No dude, you can keep it. I actually came here to give you some options.” Dave smiled; Dirk frowned in confusion. “Options?” Dave rooted in his bag for a moment before placing some documents in front of Dirk. Dirk, still confused, picked them up and read them. Then read them again and a third time, he just couldn’t believe the printed words or his own eyes, but the words stayed the same after every re-read.

“… You’ve adopted me? I don’t understand.” Dirk says softly, looking over at Dave with wide eyes. Dave maintained eye contact but tapped anxiously on the table. “Yeah, I’m now legally your guardian but you don’t need to worry, you can come back with me and stay, I’ll be like your big Bro or something and you won’t need to worry about shit like a roof over your head or food. If-… if you don’t want to come back with me, I can pay for a hotel room all inclusive, whatever you want. You’ve got four years until you can do whatever you want, let me help you for those years and at the end you can stay in either situation and I’ll continue to support you or you can go and do your own thing it’s up to you.”

“Why?” Dirk whispered, tempted to pinch himself but not wanting to wake up if he’s dreaming. Dave took a deep breath “The foster care and adoption system work, most of the time. They don’t work for everyone. They sure as hell didn’t work for me and I can see its not working for you, but I can help so I’m going to try. Plus, I can finally be the person I waited a lifetime for.” He smiled softly at the young teen, whose hands had started to tremble, making the paper in them rustle slightly.

“What type of person were you waiting for?” Dirk asked softly, Dave looked kindly over at him “Some kind of bullshit movie knight in shining armour to rescue me from a nightmare tower and take me home. So, what do you say little prince? Wanna let this knight help you down from your tower?”

Dirk took a shaky breath and glanced down at the papers again, then back to Dave. “You want to save me from my fictional tower by taking me back to a physical tower with no elevator and killer stairs?” He smiled before using the sleeve of his old hoodie to wipe at the moister that had formed in his eyes.  
It couldn’t last, it never did but he was going to play along and stay with him until Dave got bored and kicked him out.

“Okay, help me down Bro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose knows a lot about the adoption process cause she has adopted Roxy 
> 
> Dave sent emails of his scrip to every agent he could, Karkat on a whim decided to read it. He binged the whole thing and immediately rang Dave asking to work together
> 
> side note I really want the Pizza Slut mug after knowing it actually exists 
> 
> hope you enjoyed this fic! I'm planning a few more in this series and I hope you'll enjoy them too whenever I eventually get around to writing them

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if you would like anything tagging and I hope you enjoyed the chapter :3


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